The Connection between Methodological Individualism and Alienation: An Opinion Essay

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Recommended: Outline and discuss Marx’s theory of alienation

According to Karl Marx, alienation is a result of living in a socially stratified society, because the mechanistic parts of a social class alienates a person from his or her humanity and human nature. This is done through the work of the market economy and capitalism in which prior, society was cohesive and worked together to combine and achieve ultimate goals. However, with the onset of capitalism, the market economy placed individuals on metaphoric stations doing one single task to accomplish mass production. Based on specific qualities, education, and abilities, people were placed on a specific role to accomplish a task for the powerful to make more money. Since the ideology of capitalism came before psychology, the field of psychology was inherently influenced by this type of process, which has been ingrained into out socialization of society’s function. Methodological Individualism attempts to identify all human characteristics on an indefinite continuum. Once these characteristics are understood, scientists can then research and control for specific outcomes in order to ultimately control human behaviour; this is how psychology functions today. By reducing human beings, we can understand the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and have them place on a track to fit in with a capitalist economy. Like the market economy, humans are issued on a chain for mass production for use in society. When children first enter the education system, they are given several psychological tests to identify their intelligence quotient (IQ) score. This score allows educators to slot students on an accelerated, normal, or modified track which will follow them for their entire life. Students on an accelerated trajectory are identified throug... ... middle of paper ... ...nated in order to have production, psychologists needed to find ways to identify human qualities; this was done through Methodological Individualism. Psychologists have formed tests, and the education system, as well as employment assessments; this has been used in society to identify specific traits which can then be used by the capitalist society to identify the people that will fit in to their system. Furthermore, psychology deducts individuals with mental illnesses to allow pharmaceutical companies to market “cures”. In essence, Methodological Individualism was created by psychologists in an alienated society run by capitalism, in order to enhance capitalism as it was the only way that a new discipline of study could have grown in that society. The capitalist economy supports the field of psychology if the research from psychologists supports the market economy.

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